Adposhel

Category: adware · Aliases: adposhel adware, browsefox variant · Sample count (EMBER 2018): 8,951 · Enrichment: documented_reference_only · Updated: 2026-06-09
Category: AdwareActor: Unknown / CybercriminalIndustry: Global / OpportunisticMotivation: Opportunistic

Overview

adposhel is classified as adware or a potentially-unwanted program associated with intrusive advertising or bundling. It has one or more associated MITRE ATT&CK technique references (linked on this page) that document the behaviors observed for it. We have not yet published a hand-verified detailed profile for this family; the MITRE references below are the authoritative source for its documented techniques.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1176 T1112 T1547.001

Generated Detections (Boilerplate)

These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.

YARA Rule

rule MALWARE_WIN_ADPOSHEL {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Adposhel (adware)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
        date = "2026-07-06"
    strings:
        $s1 = "adposhel" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "adposhel adware" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "browsefox variant" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Adposhel Activity
id: 35e8f8f8e85a52ccc1afa5fd2ce939f9
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the adposhel malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*adposhel*"
            - "*adposhel adware*"
            - "*browsefox variant*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

References & External Analysis

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I learn more about adposhel?

Refer to the linked MITRE ATT&CK technique pages, which document the behaviors associated with this family.

How do I remove the Adposhel Adware from Windows?

Manual removal of Adposhel is highly discouraged as it may leave persistence mechanisms intact. We recommend disconnecting the device from the internet and utilizing a professional incident response service or enterprise-grade EDR software to conduct a full forensic sweep.

Is Adposhel a virus or a Adware?

Adposhel is classified as a Adware. Unlike traditional viruses that infect files, modern malware like Adposhel typically operates as a standalone payload designed to compromise systems, steal data, or deploy secondary stage implants.

What are the main symptoms of a Adposhel infection?

Symptoms of Adposhel can include unexpected system slowness, unauthorized outbound network traffic to unknown IP addresses, disabled security software, and suspicious background processes running from AppData or Temp directories.

Related Families (Category: adware)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

Protect Your Network Against Adwares

Want to prevent Adposhel and similar threats from compromising your organization? Read our comprehensive defensive guide: Adware & PUP Protection.

Need help with an active incident? Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordan123234-malware-families-explorer.static.hf.space/api/adposhel.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.